Yep, that late. The edited videos had already been uploaded to YouTube about 4 days ago, and the recording was done last Tuesday...
Been rather busy lately, not to mention quite lazy and tired... and it's just the first month of the year! The workflow should lessen after January, as is the case since 2018; the near the start/end of the year is always the most busiest of periods.
...and when it comes to relaxation time/vacations, I tend to slack off a bit too much to the point of forgetting things...
But enough about that! This World of Tanks Common Test version brings us Russian Double-Barreled Heavy Tanks, about 3 of them to the Tech Tree. Obviously not counting the recently added Object 703 Version II which is obtainable through lootboxes. Such greediness...
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| A double barreled 112... |
So, the first things first... the new line consists of 3 tanks, Tiers 8, 9 and 10 respectively... and they'll branch out from the KV-3.
The first tank on the list is the IS-2 II... and from the name, one can guess it's an IS-2 with 2 guns, or with a tutu. Unlike the 703 II however, you don't have the 122mm guns available to use, which is rather odd... considering that it's an IS.
Since it's essentially an IS-2 with another gun, the armor of the tank is still the same as it was in Tier VII... which is not a good thing. The 100mm isn't that bad and there's plenty of ammo to spare... just kinda disappointing that there's no 122mm gun, which I think they conveniently left out to make the 703 II more powerful... not to mention the superior armor it has over this tank.
And now, the IS-3 II; a Tier IX IS-3 with two guns... finally, we get to use a bigger gun!
...although it takes quite a lot of combat experience to get the 122mm gun, though... the last 122mm gun available, that is.
The first 122mm gun is pointless as it leads to nothing, not to mention it's not that much of an upgrade aside from bigger caliber and damage output. you're better off researching the last gun instead.
The 100mm gun still isn't that bad though. Penetration might be a bit shite for this Tier, but ammo capacity is still great... and yes, it still retains the large ammo pool for the 122mm guns as well. So one can have a healthy amount of all three ammo types!
Armor is so-so with that pike-nose hull, but turret armor is okay, unlike the glass double cannon from before. The tank is very looooong, too... like a limo!
And finally we have the ST-II. Pretty much the same tank but with an extra gun...
Now this tank, I don't enjoy that much...
Sure, it's somewhat historical... but World of Tanks threw that out of the window a long time ago. There's nothing special about this tank; it's like a carbon copy of the ST-I. Even has the same ammo pool that the single gun variant has.
And here's the part where I start bitching...
Overall, the tanks don't feel that special. Perhaps the most interesting tank was the IS-3 II, and even then I feel like that should've been a Tier VIII vehicle. The whole line feels very off...
You've got a Premium Tier VIII can clearly perform better than the Tech Tree counterpart, not to mention it looks very similar to an IS-3 but with a flat angled front plate... but at Tier IX we have a Pike-nosed tank. Although I guess that can be overlooked as this particular Tech Tree's focus is on the double barreled gun capabilities...
Hell, the KV line also has it's problems, too.. the last two Tiers specifically. The ST-I is clearly an experiment to an improved IS-4, but it's a tier lower. If anything at all, the IS-4 should've been a Tier IX like how it was back then.
The Tech Tree variant for the Tech VIII tank should've been something else rather than the IS-2 II, in my opinion... maybe the IS-3 II or something similar to the 703 II. The Tier IX could be the ST-II or IS-4 II (a made-up tank?! Preposterous!) and the Tier X... well, I have no idea.
The Tier VIII should have the stock gun as 100mm and several 122mm gun upgrades... sharing similarities to the regular IS-3 variant BUT no BL-9 to make it in-line with the 703 II. This tank will have its damage output go from 250 to 390 and penetration values from 175 to 215.
The Tier IX should have the last (or second last gun) researched 122mm from the previous Tier and some upgraded 122mm choices, which will end with the M62-T2 gun... making it similar to the IS-4 or ST-I. This tank will have its damage output starting from 390 to 440 and penetration values from 215 to 240-ish... shouldn't be as high as the IS-4 or ST-I.
The final tank should have the last researched gun as its stock, and perhaps a 130mm gun upgrade to really bring out the tank. 152mm is overkill as 750 x 2 is devastatingly high for a Heavy Tank as compared to 490 x 2. Perhaps the gun will be more in-line with the IS-7's gun, as damage values of other guns close to 130mm (mainly the 12.8mm from Germans) is around 560... still too high. Keeping the damage values just under 1000 I think is better, as RNG will and can decide if one rolls above just 1000.
Now this tank will have the 130mm's gun with better penetration from its 122mm gun, unlike the IS-7, more like the Object 277... because just 50 (or 100 if doubleshot) damage increase, but is offset with worse penetration sounds like downgrade... not to mention that it'll have much longer reload, aim time and probably worse accuracy.
Speaking of which... this Tier X will have it's damage output go from 440 to 490, and penetration values from 240-ish to 255+... better than the IS-7, but not better than the Object 277... somewhat similar to the ST-I or IS-4.
The ammo capacity will shrink when moving to higher calibers, as it would make sense. So for the final tank, one has to make a decision to use a bigger gun with better penetration or a smaller gun with more ammo pool.
Guess the most comfortable Tier would still be Tier IX, as all it's guns are 122mm, the same ammo pool throughout all guns and is just a progressive upgrade with no drawbacks or second choices... just a bunch of guns to research like the Tier VIII tank.
Well, at least that's how I see this mini-tech tree addition should be. It's somewhat mixed, just like French 'Heavy' Heavies; mediocre Tier X, an okay Tier IX and horrible Tier VIII... but with an exceptional Tier VIII Premium Tank variant. Huh... almost like a carbon copy...
Eh, whatever. I think I ran on for too long, now. Quite disappointing, but not that it matters anyways... the next post is most likely not gonna be World of Tanks, as I've posted quite a number of times that I wanted to try other games... just hoping that they don't fall apart like Armored Warfare did. Let's just hope it doesn't take me a month plus to update...
-Panzer Fist-
